SoCal Man Sues Police After His Sign Language is Mistaken for Threats

posted by KFBK News
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2 years ago

A deaf Southern California man is suing police after officers apparently mistook his attempts to speak in sign language as threatening gestures and beat and Tased him in the process.

Jonathan Miester was loading his car with some personal belongings last February when four Hawthorne police officers confronted him.

The suit filed by the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness claims Hawthorne police struck Meister with their fists and feet, and forcibly took him to the ground before shooting him several times with a Taser.

Police had initially charged Meister with assault, but those charges were dropped.